


May you be blessed with fortune and (mis)adventure

by Alecto



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, F/M, Harpies, High Fantasy, M/M, Multi, Pre-Relationship, Rescue Missions, Wizards: No Sense of Right or Wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25927573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alecto/pseuds/Alecto
Summary: When Joey sets off to rescue his sister from a dragon’s clutches, he embarks on the journey of a lifetime. Along the way, he finds unlikely allies in the form of a harpy named Mai and whatever the hell Kaiba is.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto/Kujaku Mai | Mai Valentine, Kawai Shizuka | Serenity Wheeler/Otogi Ryuuji | Duke Devlin (minor)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	May you be blessed with fortune and (mis)adventure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cryptographic_Delurk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cryptographic_Delurk/gifts).



> I have no excuse for how ridiculously late this is, so I won't make any. All I have to extend is a thousand apologies for the tardiness. If you're still in the fandom, hope you enjoy.

Joey was no stranger to the tavern. He often visited the one back home to run deliveries for the Taylor farm, weaving around wobbly wooden furniture and jostling elbows. But Joey came from a small village. Domino, on the other hand, was a proper city. The interior of the tavern was crowded and boisterous, but their table in the corner? The spot was as quiet and solemn as a graveyard.

Joey squirmed. When he left home, he never imagined he'd fall into the company of people like Mai, who was an honest-to-god harpy with wings and everything, and... Well, he wasn't sure what Kaiba was other than foreign and a jackass. 

The silence broke when the barmaid deposited three tankards with a resounding clang, sloshing ale over the sides. Mai wrapped both claws around the closest one and took several deep gulps. Afterward, she sighed happily, long blond lashes fluttering as her eyes slid closed. Not a moment later, she trained her sharp violet gaze on Joey and arched an eyebrow. "Go on, you two. I can't be the only one that needs a stiff drink after tonight's shitshow."

Joey winced. That was one way to describe what happened. He took a small sip, mostly to fill the awkward space, and was pleasantly surprised by the taste. The ale was much better than the stuff available back home. Kaiba, on the other hand, sniffed his once before pushing it away with a wrinkled nose. 

Joey added "snob" to his short list of what he knew about Kaiba.

"More for me then," Mai rolled her eyes and reached for the abandoned drink. She flitted her eyes to Joey's face. "Unless you..."

Joey shook his head. He wasn’t a big drinker, and he didn't have much desire to finish his own. Again, silence settled over them like a wet blanket. Joey rubbed his throbbing knee, still smarting from a sharp whack of Bakura's staff when the "cleric" had fled. He resisted the urge to rub the bump on his head, another gift from Bakura when he first robbed Joey of his belongings yesterday. 

"I don't understand what happened," he admitted sheepishly. 

Kaiba snorted, then muttered, "No surprise there."

Mai swirled a talon through the foamy head of her ale. She constantly surprised Joey with her dexterity. "Well, I'm out thirty crowns on a bounty, and you're not getting back whatever he stole from you. He's long gone from the city by now."

"Tch, a bounty hunter. Why am I not surprised?" Kaiba turned his nose, somehow making the term "bounty hunter" sound even more like a slur, before gesturing in Joey’s direction. "Don't lump me in with this commoner who was stupid enough to get swindled by that cleric act."

Joey slammed his fist on the table, fighting the urge to leap across it and pummel Kaiba. "Then what the hell were you doing there tonight?"

Kaiba shifted in his seat. "None of your business."

Joey narrowed his eyes. "Are you Bakura's accomplice?" He received a dirty look in response. 

"Nah, but he was trying to hire the thief," Mai smirked over her ale. She tapped the side of her head before adding, "Harpy hearing."

Joey turned to her. "Can we turn Kaiba in for a bounty then? Good people don't try to hire thieves."

"Something valuable, more valuable than your pathetic possessions, was taken from me," snapped Kaiba. "I must retrieve it no matter what."

Joey guffawed, and even Mai let loose a shrieking laugh. "So you tried to hire a thief to steal from another thief. Don't act all high and mighty. You’re no better than me."

Kaiba bristled, alternating his death glare between them. "If I—" He snapped his jaws shut with a teeth-chattering click. "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you."

"Suppose so. Looks like none of us got what we wanted tonight." Mai took another long gulp of her ale. Pink dusted her high cheekbones, leading Joey to wonder how well harpies handled their drink. 

Joey dropped his head in his hands, pressing the heels of his palms until bright coronas flared behind his eyelids. 

She patted him on the back. "Come on, chin up, kid. It's not the end of the world."

Joey was tired after three days on the road. He was broke. The back of his head, where Bakura had first knocked him out, was still swollen. Nothing was working out. The fifteen stolen coronets that Bakura had robbed from him were the entirety of his life-savings. He'd been counting on that money to fund Serenity's rescue. Granted, he'd been a bit vague on where or how to save his little sister, but also being broke didn't help.

"You don't understand," he moaned. "My sister's life depends on that money."

A solemn atmosphere fell over their table. Even Kaiba sat up straighter with the smallest frown.

"Tell us about it," Mai urged. "It's not like we're going anywhere."

So Joey did.

-x-x-x-

If Joey's life were a fairy tale, it might go something like this.

Once upon a time, there was a brother and sister who lived happily as citizens of a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. The boy was lucky and brave, and the girl both fair and wise. Their parents loved them, treasured them, and wanted to give them all the best. Or maybe the mother died, and the father remarried a cruel and capricious stepmother that ruled the family with an iron fist.

But the truth was that their parents passed when they were too young to remember how and why. They didn't have much, but they had each other. They had the tiny house that their parents left them. They had the sliver of land the house sat on, situated at the edge of the village while facing the woods. They had their health and their livelihoods.

Their village was not the most prosperous, long past its heyday as a stopover for travelers journeying westward. New water routes to their south made for safer and faster travel. As a result, the villagers lived a quiet life with the same people from the cradle to the grave. 

Serenity called it boring sometimes. Joey thought it was more like having his skin pulled too tight, and his lungs shrunken too small to contain his breath. 

But it was safe and almost comfortable, which was everything Joey wanted for his little sister.

So when the newcomer strolled into the village's dusty inn that was long past its prime, news spread like wildfire. Ryuuji Otogi, though foreign, was obviously well-to-do. His clothes were vibrant in color and rich in texture. His hands were smooth and free of calluses. But there was something about the sibilant quality of his words and his sharp pupils that made Joey's hair stand on their end. 

"I've never met anyone like him," Serenity breathed with awe and stars in her eyes after their first meeting. "Why do you think he's here?" 

"He's only passing through."

There was little reason for someone like Otogi to linger here. He would be gone soon enough, and their lives would continue as if Otogi had never been there. 

Except days stretched into weeks, and Otogi showed no sign of leaving any time soon. His coin purse never lightened no matter how generously he overpaid for room, board, food, and little trinkets he gifted to passing villagers without a second thought. Everyone and their mother was enamored with the exotic visitor single-handedly fueling their small town's economy. 

Joey would have been content to ignore him, but Serenity was not immune to Otogi's charms as he was. She and Otogi spent far too much time together. He was full of questions and curiosity that Serenity was all too happy to answer and play guide. When she came home with a spring in her step and a lacquered flower pin in her hair, Joey knew he had to put his foot down.

"You should stay away from him," he warned. 

"Big brother, you're overreacting. Ryuuji is a good man. You should take the time to get to know him better, then you'll see." Serenity pleaded.

All he needed to know was that Otogi couldn't be trusted. People were rarely that generous without having some ulterior motive. Why couldn’t other people see that?

But it turned out he had a much bigger problem on the horizon. Because in another two weeks, Serenity would be taken. 

On that fateful day that would forever change his life, he whistled a jaunty tune as he hiked up the hill to their cottage. Joey patted down his pockets to make sure the packet of honey candy was still there. They'd cost him a pretty penny, but they were Serenity's favorite. It might smooth over some of the rifts caused by their latest argument over Otogi.

Otogi was lucky he hadn't gotten punched in the face for dropping hints that Serenity could go with him on the rest of his trip.

When he reached the top, he paused to admire the surroundings. Even if the cottage was a small one-room affair, their parents had chosen to build it on a gorgeous spot overlooking the main road into the village down one side and the dense forest down the opposite end. As it was near dusk, the sun hung low over the tree canopy and bathed the leaves in a vibrant orange that made it glow for miles. Something appeared to be moving among the trees, though.

"Serenity?" he called, immediately poking his head through the door to check on his sister.

No one answered him, and there was no one inside the house.

He glanced back at the treeline and wondered if that had been Serenity he saw venturing into the forest. Unable to quell his worry, he growled and headed toward the woods. He spotted the tell-tale signs of a human-made trail trodden but still fresh. As he followed the path deep into the forest, an unnerving quiet enveloped around him. There should be more game during the spring season, but he strained to hear even the faintest insect noises. 

Eventually, Joey approached a clearing but stopped short of entering it when he caught a partial glimpse of Serenity. She was speaking to someone, though he was too far to hear what was being said. 

He rounded the next thick tree trunk, and his heart jumped into his throat. Not someone, but something. And not just any "something." 

It was a dragon. 

The beast was massive, almost twice the size of the village's largest house. Its sleek scales were shiny and as dark as midnight, and its eyes the color of rich, summer grass. It unfurled its massive wings, kicking out a wind that nearly knocked Joey back despite how far back he hung back. 

Then it did the unthinkable. It scooped Serenity up between its talons, jolting Joey from his stupor. He grabbed the nearest, sizable tree branch and charged forward. 

"Serenity!"

But his screams were lost beneath the hurricane wing-beats as he struggled to stand. By the time he reached the place where his sister last stood, they had flown as high as any bird and far beyond Joey or his makeshift weapon's reach. 

Soon, the dragon and Serenity were but a speck on the dusky horizon. 

-x-x-x-

Joey set out the next morning with the clothes on his back, his father's old dagger, a handful of copper coins, and the rest of their leftover food stashed in the pack slung over one shoulder. The village elder not only refused to help but implied he was lying to cover up the fact that Serenity had run off with Otogi. Otogi was nowhere to be found after having checked out of the inn yesterday. Not that it mattered. Joey knew what he saw, and he had seen a dragon kidnap his sister. 

He headed due west toward Domino City, and most importantly, in the last direction he had seen the dragon flying. He took the well-trodden road leading away from his hometown. He couldn't resist looking back periodically, but only paused when he had gotten far enough to barely make out the hill on which his home sat. 

Joey squared his shoulders and kept walking. Nothing short of hell itself would keep him from rescuing Serenity. 

-x-x-x-

He hated to admit it, but he was hopelessly lost. He wondered if he had taken the wrong turn at the fork. The remaining daylight was fading quickly, and he wondered if he should set up camp for the night. 

He stumbled but caught himself before he faceplanted on the ground. Looking back, he was dismayed to see he had tripped over a leg sticking haphazardly out of the undergrowth. 

"Please don't be a dead body," he prayed and crawled over to the bush by the side of the road. "Please don't be a chopped-off leg."

He sucked in a deep breath and parted the branches. The unconscious cleric groaned when the fading daylight hit his face. Mud caked the hem of his once white hair and robes, but he was alive. His eyelids fluttered before opening to reveal a pair of dazed brown eyes.

"Hey, are you hurt?" Joey asked, not sure if he should help him to his feet or not. 

The cleric muttered something unintelligible. 

"Huh?" 

A stomach grumbled like thunder, but it wasn't Joey's. 

Finally, the cleric groaned, "I'm starving."

Joey let out a whooshing breath of relief before helping the cleric up. Together, they found a spot off the road where they could sit on a fallen log. His complexion had been as pale as his hair. But with a few gulps from Joey's waterskin, he recovered enough to help Joey comb through the bushes for his lost staff. Said staff now laid across the cleric's lap. The jewel topping it winked at Joey in the fading daylight.

He did feel a pang as the cleric wolfed down the last of his bread and cheese, but he also wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did nothing. He took a lackluster nibble out of the chunk he'd saved for himself, chewing slowly and hoping that would help his stomach feel fuller. By the time they finished, Joey would be out of rations except for the honey candy he had bought for Serenity.

"Bless you, I haven't eaten," the cleric muttered fervently after another bite and then furrowed his brows. "For three days."

"What happened to you?" Joey asked.

"There is a rare herb with healing properties that grows in these woods. My order tasked me with gathering some for our supplies. Unfortunately, I ran into a pack of dire wolves who hunted me for several days. I eventually managed to escape them by falling off a low cliff and into a river. However, I lost all my supplies in the process. By the time I made it back to the main road, I was so hungry that I collapsed, unable to return to the city until you came to my rescue." The cleric ducked his head to hide his embarrassed face under his dusty fringes. 

"Happy to lend a hand, uh, I didn't get your name..." Joey trailed off.

The cleric snapped his head up to meet Joey's gaze so fast that Joey feared he'd get whiplash. "How rude of me. You may call me Bakura. How should I address you?"

"Joey's fine."

"Thank you again for coming to my aid. I am in your debt. Unfortunately, I do not have any coins on me..."

Joey sighed. That sounded like his luck. "It's okay. If you can point me to Domino City or the nearest village, that's enough to pay me back."

Bakura brightened at the idea. "Of course, I would be happy to serve as your guide."

"Why don't we set up camp for the night then? We can head out at first light. I'm going to gather some firewood. Stay here," Joey warned. The last thing he needed was for Bakura to wander off and get lost again. 

Bakura nodded vigorously and stuffed his mouth with more bread. 

By the time Joey returned to their campsite with a bundle of kindling, the sun had nearly completed its daily journey. A small fire crackled in a stone-lined pit, barely enough to illuminate the clearing. Squinting at the growing shadows, he could make out a slumped figure crouched by a gnarled tree. 

"Bakura, are you okay?" he called. 

"I'm feeling better," Bakura replied with a shaky exhale. "I tripped in the dark when I went to relieve myself."

Joey shook his head. It was probably a good thing Bakura was a cleric with healing abilities, given his clumsiness. "You gotta be more careful."

Bakura's shadowed form braced himself against his staff. He tried to stand but soon fell back against the tree. "Actually, Joey, could you lend me a hand?"

He dropped his haul next to the campfire and made his way to Bakura's side. As he passed under cover of the tree's massive canopy, a shiver ran down Joey's spine. His foot snagged on something. He jumped, and an unseen force swept him off the ground. 

Squeezing his eyes shut, he braced himself to meet the ground that never came. 

"What the hell?"

He popped open one eye as an upside-down Bakura strolled into the light. Correction, Joey hung upside down by the rope tied around his ankles. Bakura smiled in a ruthless and un-cleric way, circling Joey like a vulture. 

"Come on, let me down!" 

Bakura chuckled. It was a low and dark sound that reverberated through the night. "You should be careful whom you trust, little peasant boy."

Joey jerked his entire body, trying to wrench himself free. With some effort, he used his upper body strength to reach the rope binding his ankles. His fingers, now slick and clammy, fumbled with the knot. Bakura didn't stop him, probably because he already knew that Joey couldn't undo it. He floated around the edge of Joey's vision with a smirk gracing his lips. He even chuckled every time Joey fumbled and lost his grip. Joey eventually gave up. His arms dangled limply as sweat ran down his fingers and dripped from his hair. 

The cleric crouched in front of him, bringing them to the same eye-level. "Are you quite done?" Bakura asked with a bored expression. Then he struck, relieving Joey of his coin purse and dagger. "Then, I'll be taking these!"

Joey swung to grab Bakura, but the other man nimbly jumped out of his way. "Give that back!"

Bakura ignored him in favor of counting Joey's coins. "...thirteen, fourteen, fifteen coronets... I don't know why I bother with good Samaritans. As if good intentions were enough to fill your bellies." He gave a sharp toothy grin before adding, "Not to mention much less fun."

Bakura rapped his staff against Joey's temple. The world went dark.

-x-x-x-

Joey woke up alone in the woods later. Bakura must have cut him down while he was unconscious. He'd robbed Joey of everything of value—dagger, money, and even the last hunks of cheese and bread he'd saved for breakfast. With no other recourse, he continued the rest of the way to Domino in hopes of tracking down Bakura.

He'd managed somehow. He'd found Bakura but failed to catch him, which led to the motley crew he was telling his story to now.

Mai slammed her cup on the table and blew a dismissive noise. "Wait, you're saying a dragon kidnapped your sister? Are you sure you saw a dragon?"

Joey nodded.

"But there hasn't been a dragon sighting on this side of the continent in three centuries," she insisted. "They're complete isolationists since the ceasefire of Johan’s Crossing."

"I know what I saw," he snapped. "It was huge, it had scales, it had wings, and it flew. I know it was a dragon."

Kaiba spoke up, stunning him and Mai into silence with this declaration. "I believe you."

Hope bloomed inside Joey's chest like the first flower of spring. No one, back home or along the way, had believed him. Like Mai, they insisted that a dragon couldn't have taken his sister. He searched Kaiba's face for any hints of lying or ridicule but found none. 

"We may be able to help each other," Kaiba smiled a sharp grin that flashed too many teeth to be truly friendly. 

"I'm listening," Joey prompted to Mai's apparent and growing horror.

"As I said before, someone stole something very important from me. I can't retrieve it on my own, but you should be able to. Help me take back what's mine, and I can show you the way to the dragons' kingdom," proposed Kaiba. The calculating gleam in his eyes should have been warning enough, but Joey would do almost anything to save his baby sister.

"You're lying," Mai hissed. "I bet you don't know the first thing about the Dragon Kingdom."

Kaiba arched an elegant eyebrow before retorting, "Really? The dragons built their capital into the faces of the Endless Cliffs. But a thousand years ago, it was little more than a network of tunnels originating from the Mistborne Mountains. Dragons dug those early tunnels with their bare claws."

"Fine," she snapped. "You've read a few books. Then you know the Scar keeps all outsiders from reaching the Endless Cliffs. You're getting the boy's hopes up for no reason."

"The Scar?" Joey asked.

With a deep sigh, Mai drew a rolled up piece of parchment from a belt pouch. He marveled at how she didn't rip the scroll as she spread it open over the table. It was a map. But the only maps Joey had seen in the course of his sheltered life were crude charcoal drawings of nearby hamlets clustered in his part of the countryside. Mai's map was a beautiful example that spanned multiple kingdoms and territories, dotted with exotic writing and artistic flourishes. 

The world was so much larger than Joey had ever imagined. It stole his breath away.

She tapped a gorge carved by ink on the far left side of the map. The dark stain ran almost halfway down the length of the parchment. 

"It's a deep canyon that sits between the western border of this kingdom and the Endless Cliffs," explained Mai. "It's too wide to bridge across on foot. Too deep to scale. It's the perfect natural defense for the dragons. Humans can't cross it on their own. The only way across is to fly."

Joey considered her brightly feathered wings. "You can fly. Can't you take me?"

A sharp, abrasive laugh swallowed whatever reply Mai might have given, reminding Joey that Kaiba still sat at their table. 

"Her?" he sneered. "You really are nothing more than a simple farm boy. Harpies can't fly more than a twelfth the Scar's span. Her bones are also hollow. She's not meant to carry passengers. You two would plunge straight into the lava river after takeoff."

She glowered, skittering her talons across the tabletop and leaving tiny scratches on its surface. "Yet, you claim you know the way to cross."

"I can. If you do me this one favor." Kaiba smirked. It was a proud and secretive curve of his cupid's bow. 

He rose, striking a tall and elegant figure despite the unflattering lantern light that illuminated the tavern's interior. Before he stepped away, he deposited two silver coins, more than enough for pay for several kegs of ale, in the middle of the table. "Meet me in front of the tavern tomorrow morning at dawn if you're interested." 

With one last superior grin aimed at Mai, he swept out of the tavern.

-x-x-x-

Bathed in the pinkish pre-dawn light, Joey tucked himself into the alcove of the tavern's front door and waited for Kaiba to show. The tavern wouldn't open for another few hours, so no one other than the owner might turn him away. He rubbed his arms and shivered. It was still early enough in the spring that a chill lingered in the early morning hours.

As he waited, he circled back to the thoughts that plagued him all night. The magnitude of Joey's task ballooned after seeing Mai's map and the actual length of travel before him. It was downright daunting. Mai couldn't help him even if she were willing. So that left Kaiba's offer or striking out on his own again.

Kaiba was shady. He was barely trustworthy. Joey should avoid him like the plague after his experiences with fake-cleric Bakura. But Kaiba had money and knowledge—both of which Joey needed in spades. And most importantly, he believed Joey’s story. He believed that a dragon kidnapped Serenity. 

That counted for something, right?

He cupped his hands around his mouth and blew to warm them. If Kaiba didn't show, Joey would continue with his original plan to head out west. It would take him longer if he had to pick up jobs along the way, but at least he wouldn't starve before he reached his destination. As for how he’d cross the Scar... He'd figure that out when it was time to cross that bridge literally.

"You came."

Joey jumped and gaped at Kaiba's lanky frame back-lit by the morning sky. Damn. Kaiba moved like a cat, silent and stealthy. 

"You offered, so here I am." He shrugged and buried his hands under his armpits for warmth. 

Kaiba, the snob, wrinkled his nose in disdain. "I expect you to keep up. The pace of travel will be brutal, but time is of the essence in both our cases."

Joey nodded in agreement. It sounded good to him. He wasn't interested in spending more time with Kaiba than necessary. His priority was Serenity. "So, where are we off to?"

"There is a man, a human, about two weeks' travel south of here. He stole something of mine that I must retrieve at all costs."

Ice flooded his veins. South? Two weeks? Kaiba's offer was rapidly losing its sheen.

"I don't need you to confront him directly. But my plan requires two people to work. I would have preferred the thief, but beggars can't be choosers. And you're desperate enough to help regardless," Kaiba flashed him a shark's grin.

Damn, if he wasn't right. Joey sucked in a deep breath, wondering if he was as reckless as Tristan claimed. "I help you, and you show me the way to the Dragon's Kingdom. That's the deal, right?"

"I'll even cover our travel expenses," Kaiba said as if it was the most generous offer anyone could make.

"You could at least pay the boy for his efforts," a third voice cut into their conversation.

Joey craned his neck and found Mai perched on a second-story ledge above them. How long had she been there?

"Stop calling me 'boy.' I have a name. It's Joey," he groused.

"Tch," Kaiba sneered. "Two gold crowns upon completion of the task." His tone brooked no room for negotiation.

Mai hopped off her ledge and landed next to Joey. "That's more like it. Mind if I tag along? You two chased off my bounty after all. If two heads are better than one, then surely three heads are better than two."

Kaiba's lips thinned. For a moment, it looked like he might reject Mai. But he was probably as desperate as Joey, though he refused to show it. "Do as you please," he snarled and turned away.

Mai winked. "Let's do our best to get along, Joey."

-x-x-x-

Traveling in the company of a harpy and whatever Kaiba was (sorcerer? magician? idle nobleman?) made for an "interesting" experience. As promised, Kaiba forced them to travel at a brutal pace. 

By day three, every muscle in Joey's body ached and screamed. His feet were more blisters than flesh. Early on, Joey once suggested they hire a horse to speed up the journey. Kaiba had the coin to spare. Kaiba had eyed a nearby stable of horses with suspicion before rejecting the idea. The horses returned the favor, treating Kaiba like he was diseased.

"They won't cooperate as long as I'm present," was all Kaiba would say.

Which wasn't a helpful answer. 

After that, Joey became convinced he may be the only human in the group. Kaiba, the damn freak, showed no signs of pain or tiring. It lent support to Joey's theory that he was a magic-user or had some non-human blood in his ancestry. Elven blood, maybe? Mai kept up easily by gliding through the air and jumping from tree to tree. Sometimes, she complained about wing fatigue, but her nomadic lifestyle prepared her for this kind of hard travel.

Still, Kaiba put his seemingly never-ending supply of gold to otherwise good use. He paid for a room at every inn they stayed out. When he was in a better mood, he even covered Mai's.

Meals were an awkward affair shared between the three of them. Their only saving grace was they ate similar diets. Mai happily subsisted on the same kinds of cooked/cured meats and vegetables. Most of the dead air was filled by conversations between Joey and Mai, who exchanged stories about their hometowns and Mai's exploits as a bounty hunter. While Kaiba rarely engaged, he seemed to absorb every detail through sharp, conniving eyes.

About a week into their journey, the distances between towns and villages forced them to spend nights camping outside. Joey and Mai foraged and hunted for smaller game that they cooked over a campfire prepared by Kaiba. Despite his fussy and highbrow appearance, Kaiba didn't complain about roughing it. Whatever waited at the end of their journey must be very important to him.

They also ran into their first bit of real trouble around that time. They had stopped to fill their canteens at a nearby stream. Joey turned to ask Kaiba a question and found him missing. That should have been the first sign that something had gone amiss. 

Mai went silent on her perch overhead. He risked a glance at her and saw her violet eyes dilate like the hunting hawks back home.

At the first sound of feet crunching through forest leaves, Joey declared, "I have nothing valuable for you to take."

Rancorous laughter rang through the trees. Joey counted four in total. The leader appeared to be the burly blond man who tamed his hair under a colorful bandana of red, white, and blue. His accomplices ranged in size from the muscled leader to his human wall with spiky black hair to a lithe red-headed rogue to a scrawny, pale child that hung at the back of the group. 

"We'll be the judge of that," the blond leader sneered and unsheathed his shortsword. "You're awful mouthy for someone all by their lonesome self."

Good. They hadn't noticed Mai yet. But where the hell had Kaiba gone?

The leader signaled to his two minions. "Bring him to me."

Joey eyed the two men stomping his way. He could probably take either of them on his own. Fighting both at once would prove harder, though.

Mai trilled softly, parroting a songbird. The men continued their approach none the wiser.

As the red-haired bandit passed under Mai's perch, a bola shot out of the tree and wound itself around the bandit to bind his arms. A shell-shocked expression flashed across his face before Mai yanked him up into the leafy canopy. His scream echoed through the trees.

The black-haired brute froze, and his attention shot upward. Taking advantage of the distraction, Joey charged forward and tackled him to the ground. He landed two hits across the brute's face before he was shoved aside.

The red-head was still screaming for help in the background, while Mai gave a shrieking laugh. Joey chanced a glance at the bandit leader. The blond bandit had his hands full with Kaiba, who dodged every swing and jab of the bandit's sword in a fluid dance.

Joey turned back to his opponent in time to duck under an oncoming blow. His opponent spat a mouthful of blood onto a patch of grass and reached for a dagger. Joey could take him in a fistfight, but the moment a blade entered the equation, he'd lose. He headbutted the bandit and grasped blindly for the dagger hilt. Joey gave a triumphant cry when his fingers closed around the thin pommel. He yanked it free from its sheath and stumbled back.

Joey glanced around the scene. The red-head, gagged and trussed, hung upside-down from a sturdy tree bough, swinging in the breeze. Joey's opponent clutched his face as he rolled back and forth across the ground. The sickly-looking child, their last gang member, was nowhere in sight. The blond leader had been disarmed; his shortsword embedded almost hilt-deep into a tree trunk. He took one look at how the tides had turned on him. "You got lucky!" he spat, turned tail, and vanished back into the woods. 

The black-haired lackey picked himself off the ground and stomped after the leader with a gurgled "wait for me, Keith!" 

Kaiba gave them both a sharp-edged smile but didn't stop them as they fled.

Joey's hands shook as he lowered his stolen dagger. His ears had stopped ringing from the headbutt, but he could still hear his heart pounding like a racehorse's. A rush of fear and exhilaration swirled through his blood.

"Not bad," Mai chirped as she landed next to him. She patted his cheek gently with a talon. "You kept calm and level-headed."

Joey returned a wry smile. If only he had done that when he ran into Bakura. But it helped that Joey wasn't alone this time. At that moment, he decided then he could be keeping far more distasteful company. Despite all their oddities, maybe there was a chance they could be friends.

-x-x-x-

Torrential rain caught them off-guard at the edge of the Emerald Swamp. They were miles and miles from the next village, and only Mai's keen avian senses prevented them from being stranded in the open during the biggest thunderstorm Joey had ever seen. The shelter they kept was less a cave and more an indentation in the side of a rocky hill, barely wide or deep enough to hold the three of them. 

Kaiba peered at the sky. His eyes had turned as far as the skies above. "We'll be stuck here all night at this rate."

"I hate being wet," Mai moaned pitifully.

None of them managed to stay dry for long. Every so often, a gust of wind swept a horizontal sheet of rain into their rocky hiding place. Mai seemed especially miserable. She continually hopped from foot to foot and shook her wings and hair to dispel the water from them. But no matter how many times she did it, she looked perpetually waterlogged with her hair and feathers fizzed from the humidity, sticking out in every direction.

"If we keep moving, we should reach the next town before nightfall," Kaiba growled and folded his arms across his chest. He was never happy when their pace slowed too much for his liking, which was any rate.

"It's easier for us than Mai," pointed out Joey. "She can't fly safely in this weather. With water weighing her down, she won't get very far on feet, eh, talons."

Kaiba looked unconvinced by the argument.

He sighed and directed his question to Mai. "Your bones are hollow, ain't they?"

"Of course, harpies would never achieve enough lift to fly if we were as heavy as humans," confirmed Mai.

"Sounds inefficient," Kaiba grumbled. "Dragons don't need hollow bones to fly."

"That's because they have magic to do all the hard work for them. Take away their magic, and they become nothing more than overgrown lizards," Mai rolled her eyes. 

The look that Kaiba shot her was one of outrage. 

Joey snickered and leaned toward Mai, whispering conspiratorially, "Always knew he was some kind of dragon fanboy."

They giggled in unison as Kaiba's glower intensified. 

"Better than being bird-brained," Kaiba snapped. He sounded more like a petulant child than anything.

Joey had done his best to tease the details out of the taciturn man through the course of the journey. The personal information he relinquished were sparse and few in-between. "You're from somewhere out west, right, Kaiba? It kinda explains your accent, which reminds me of someone..." He didn't like thinking about Otogi much. After all that time wooing his sister, the libertine was nowhere to be found after Serenity was kidnapped. "But is that why you're so familiar with dragons? Do you live close to their kingdom?"

"Close enough," Kaiba replied in monotone.

Joey licked his lips. His throat suddenly went dry despite all the water falling from the sky. "What are the chances my sister's still alive?"

It was a question that had been eating at him since he left home. He hadn't dared to stop and think too hard on the subject. Now he was with someone who might be able to give an accurate answer. Kaiba sighed, and Joey's heart clambered up to his throat at the sound.

"Chances are good that she still lives," Kaiba reassured him.

"Really? It's not going to like, eat her or something?"

Kaiba's face twisted with disgust. "What? Why would you think that?"

"I dunno. They tell stories about stuff like that."

Namely about knights, which dragons supposedly saw as a culinary delicacy. 

"Slander," growled Kaiba. "Is that the kind of ridiculous stories they're telling nowadays? I'll clear it up for you then. Dragons have no interest in eating humans. You'd all taste dreadfully gamy. No dragon with an ounce of pride would sink that low. If it wanted to hurt your sister, it would have done it then and there. You humans are so small by comparison."

The rain fell harder, generating a rattling sound loud enough to drown out their conversation. Joey fell silent and let Kaiba's explanation sink in. However, Kaiba knew what he did, he said it with absolute confidence. Joey could draw some measure of reassurance from that. 

Mai's shivering form bumped against Joey's side. Trained for years to offer Serenity warmth in this manner, he reflexively placed an arm across her shoulders. He didn't realize his mistake when she froze under his touch. He started to retract his arm, but she doubled down and pressed closer to his side. He too shivered when he felt the wet and clammy skin of her exposed shoulders, where skin transformed into feathers, against the underside of his arm.

All the while, Kaiba watched them like a hawk out of the corner of his eyes. He turned his attention away with a faint mutter in some sibilant language and a half-step toward them. He became as warm as a roaring fire.

Joey could have sworn Kaiba's eyes even glowed for a second. Another point in favor of sorcerer/mage/whatever.

Mai narrowed her eyes after feeling the temperature rise. "Who are you, Seto Kaiba?"

Kaiba provided no answer with his gaze fixed on the far-off distance.

-x-x-x-

The inn they checked into only had one vacant room. It cost them three more coppers for the extra third bed, but Kaiba, as usual, didn't bat an eye at the expenses. He even paid for several nights in advance as their target was supposedly within walking distance. That night, they took supper in their over-sized room while gathered around a rickety table. The bread served on the side was a tad stale, but the stew was warm and hearty enough to make up for it. 

"So, are you going to tell us where we headed or what?" Mai asked once they finished eating. She had been growing antsier and antsier with each passing day.

Joey didn't blame her. Now that they'd finally reached their destination, he was ready to get everything sorted as quickly as possible so he could head toward the Scar and the kingdom on the other side.

Kaiba drew a piece of parchment from his leather satchel and unfurled it across the table. It was a hand-drawn map, most of the landmarks were crudely drawn, but Joey could pinpoint the sloppy depiction of the hamlet where they were currently located. Miles of swampland waited south of town, but in the center of it was a giant x-mark.

"What?" Joey scratched his head in confusion. "Are we hunting for treasure?"

"In a way," Kaiba replied, cryptic as ever. "There is a tower located in the area. That's where we're headed. It will not be easy to find, though, and it may take us a few days to locate the proper path."

"A tower? Who the hell builds a tower in the middle of a swamp?!" Joey exclaimed.

Mai sat back in her seat and folded her arms across her chest, draping herself in a rainbow mantle of feathers. Her eyes sharpened as she stared at the brunet across the table. "A sorcerer, that's who. Am I right, Kaiba? You want us to go up against Pegasus."

"You're surprisingly well-informed," was all Kaiba would say.

Joey's jaw dropped. A sorcerer! What the hell? He didn't sign up to deal with magic users. 

Mai sneered. Her sharp teeth glinted in the low candlelight. "Everyone in this area knows to steer clear of Thousand-Eyed Pegasus if they value their skin. This is insane. It's suicide. We want no part in this, Kaiba. Joey, we're leaving."

She stood with a loud scrape of her chair and wrested Joey into standing with one sharp claw on his shoulder. His head spun as she herded him toward the exit. Kaiba surged to his feet and slammed his hands on the table, hard enough to crack the surface. Joey jumped at the sound and gaped at the other man.

"You can't," barked Kaiba. 

Mai swept one wing in front of Joey like a shield as she reached for the sheathed weapon at her side. "You can't stop us."

The weeks of hard travel finally started to take their toll on Kaiba. Despite his height, he appeared shrunken while hunched over the table with quivering shoulders and his fingers hooked into the edges. His wide eyes were dark-rimmed and his pallor ashen. Vulnerable. Desperate. Those were not words Joey would have ever used to describe Seto Kaiba until this moment.

"You can't. You just can't," he repeated. His voice frayed at the seams.

"Why not?" Mai challenged. "You may not have lied to us, but you withheld critical details. A sorcerer, much less _the_ Thousand-Eyed Pegasus, is no laughing matter. There's nothing you can say to make up for such a grievous omission. I don't think there's any amount of gold you can offer to convince us to stay after that."

But as they started to cross the door's threshold, Kaiba snarled one word. 

"Mokuba!"

Something about the way his voice strained gave Joey pause. "What?" 

"Mokuba," said Kaiba softly. "He's my younger brother. I'm trying to get home to him, but I can't do that without taking back what Pegasus stole from me. And I can't help you reach your sister without it!"

"You're lying," hissed Mai.

"About Mokuba? Never. But the more important question is, Joseph, can either of us afford to take the chance if I'm not lying?" 

Kaiba met his eyes from across the length of the room. Tension and electricity crackled through the air.

Joey considered himself to be a good judge of character for the most part. He was not counting the recent incident with Bakura. Kaiba may be a shady ass guy, but he wasn't a bad person. He took a deep breath, stepped around Mai, and re-entered their room.

"Okay," he exhaled in a great whoosh. "What's the plan?"

After several long moments, Mai stepped back into the room and shut the door behind her with a soft snick.

-x-x-x-

Finding the tower turned out to be the easy part. Entering the tower even easier, because apparently, wizards didn't believe in locks? 

Joey kept his guard up. The inside of the tower was so much larger than the structure suggested was possible. It was also like a labyrinth. Each door led to rooms to corridors that rewound into identical-looking corridors with more doors to more impossibly large rooms without rhyme or reason. Would they even be able to escape the rooms and halls and the tower when they needed to?

It was too easy to lose track of time, though. If any of the rooms had windows, they looked out on different landscapes during various times of the day. Sometimes, the sun hung high at noon, but other times, a sliver of moon peeked out from behind gray clouds. 

At first, Kaiba led them through the baffling maze, tuned to some inner compass only he seemed aware of. Eventually, even he seemed to flag and lost all sense of direction.

Mai grew testy, and Joey couldn't blame her. 

"You have no idea where we're going. We're lost. No, worse, we're trapped," she accused.

"Quiet," Kaiba snarled. He squeezed his eyes shut and searched for something through what Joey could only assume was his magic. His magic that he never bothered to explain, of course. "I can sense it. It's muffled. Pegasus' stupid parlor tricks aren't going to stop me."

"I dunno," Joey drawled and collapsed into a nearby chair. Damn, his feet ached from the aimless wandering. "He's doing a bang-up job so far. What are we even looking for?"

"I'll know it when I see it," replied Kaiba evenly.

Mai threw her talons in the air, fanning her wings to their full span as she did. "This is insane! We should be looking for a way out. If Pegasus finds us—"

"He won't! Quit catastrophizing!" Kaiba barked, eyes finally snapping open to glare at her.

"No, you're going to get us all killed. I should have never let this nonsense get this far." She met his gaze head-on, violet irises surrounding slit pupils. 

When she bared her teeth, each as sharp as incisors, Joey was reminded of old wives' tales about harpies who lured men with their colorful feathers to devour their flesh. Mai may not have shown much interest in human flesh thus far, but she had more in common with birds of prey than sparrows. 

Joey knew he needed to step in before a fight broke out. "Guys, let's not fight. We're here! Going back or forward, it doesn't matter. Either way, we gotta find a way out."

Kaiba and Mai stared at each other for several more beats, before Mai turned away first and flipped her hair in a gesture of dismissal.

"So how do we get outta this maze?" Joey directed his question to Kaiba. 

Kaiba squeezed the bridge of his nose and huffed in annoyance. "It's not a maze. It's an illusion meant to keep us from reaching his workroom. In actuality, we're probably still wandering the ground floor." 

"So magical maze," drawled Joey, earning himself another glare. 

Kaiba continued, "There's likely an object he's using as a focus. Finding it would be one way to dispel the illusion." 

"This 'focus' can be anything?" 

"Yes, which is why it would be a waste of time—" 

Joey cut him short, pointed across the room that was apparently not "real," and asked, "Like that vase over there? It's literally been in every room and hallway we've been through." After seeing Kaiba's shell-shocked expression, he added, "Which you might have noticed if you were busy running around with your eyes shut." 

Without waiting for confirmation, Mai wandered over to the far side of the room and picked up the porcelain vase. As soon as her talons closed around it, the lavish room that looked like a lord's dining room dissolved into a circular room with walls made of the same cut stone as the outside of the tower. 

The chair that Joey had been sitting in also vanished without warning, dumping him on the stone-cold floor. "Ouch," he groaned and rubbed his sore tailbone. 

"Good job, Joey," said Mai, flashing him a bright smile before lobbing the vase to Kaiba. 

Kaiba caught and glared at it before smashing it to bits. "Let's move."

With the illusion now dispelled, they climbed the winding staircase up to the apex of the tower. Joey kept expecting something to jump out and try and stop them. That couldn't be all of the sorcerer's security measures? Soon, they stood before a heavy wooden door at the top of the stairs. Once again, it was unlocked and opened with nary a creak. Joey steeled his nerves and wondered if they were about to walk into another illusion. 

What they found was a surprisingly cluttered room littered with books and sketches and canvases of half-finished painting. If Joey didn't know better, he'd say they were looking at an artist's workshop instead of a sorcerer's room. Kaiba entered without hesitating, taking long strides to another set of doors that slide open to reveal shelves and shelves of jars and containers with mysterious, glowing content. 

"Don't touch anything," Mai warned as she crossed into the room as well. 

"Ya don't need to tell me twice," muttered Joey before following his companions' lead. 

Kaiba had knelt to rummage through the bottom shelf. He moved everything with caution until it was virtually empty except for one lone jar in the back. That one, he didn't touch. Instead, he stood and pointed to Joey, "You. Take that." 

"I don't think that's a good—" Mai started, 

Kaiba glared at her. "He'll be fine. It's why I brought him in the first place. He's human and doesn't have a drop of magic in his veins. It won't harm him." 

Joey crossed his arms across his chest. "And that makes you what?" 

Kaiba wouldn't say. Big surprise. "Hurry up. We didn't come this far to leave empty-handed," Kaiba spat. 

"Not until you say pretty please."

Mai snorted in laughter in the background. 

Kaiba gaped at him, once again incredulous. It was a nice change of pace from his usual arrogant expression. Then he clenched his jaw and gnashed his teeth, finally growling, "Joseph, please take this damn thing so we can get the hell out of here." 

Close enough, even though no one had called him "Joseph" in literal years. "Sure thing. But if I explode or something, I'm coming back to haunt your ass." 

Joey crossed the room and bent down to examine the jar in question. It didn't look like anything special—just a plain, unglazed clay jar with a sealed topper. A little on the bulky side, but Joey could handle the weight. As he placed his hands on the sides, though, he knew, without a doubt or a drop of magic in his veins, that the content was magical. A tingling sensation raced from his fingertips, up the length of his arm, down to the root of his hair. 

It felt like he was holding a jar of captured lighting. 

"Ah, back so soon, are we?" A lilting voice sang. "And you brought friends. What a surprise indeed."

Joey sprang to his feet, jar secured in his arms. 

In the center of the room stood a man with long white hair and a deep red robe embroidered with golden thread. Despite his hair color, the man did not appear old. Instead, he had an ageless quality to him. He must be the sorcerer, Thousand-Eyes Pegasus. 

A hand landed on Joey's shoulder. Kaiba gripped him firmly and maneuvered him into a half-step behind him, probably to protect the jar. On the other side of the room, Mai retrieved a bola from her utility belt, twirling it in preparation. But Pegasus only had eyes on Joey for some reason, his disquieting gaze tracking Joey as Kaiba edged them both ever closer to the door.

The sorcerer smiled in an almost benign and paternal manner, causing the hairs on the back of Joey's neck to stand on their ends. He gestured languidly at Kaiba and said, "He's lying to you, don't you know? He has no intention of helping you cross the Scar after he gets what he wants. He won't help you find your sister."

How did this sorcerer know so much about Joey's situation? The grip on his shoulder tightened, jolting Joey out of his shock. 

Kaiba growled, "Don't listen to him. He can read minds with that obnoxious trinket of his."

Pegasus laughed airily. With a poised hand, he brushed aside his hair to reveal the golden eye that sat inside of his left eye socket. 

"What the hell?!" Joey recoiled at the sight, but Kaiba's grasp held him in place.

Pegasus finally addressed Kaiba directly. "As always, you're a killjoy, Kaiba-boy."

"While you have no defense against it, his mind-reading tricks don't work on me." Kaiba snarled. "He's lying to you."

"Maybe not before, but you're currently at a fraction of your ability." Pegasus' smile sharpened a fraction.

Joey's eyes darted between the sorcerer and his travel companion. It wasn't as if he never considered the possibility. He had known Kaiba could fail to uphold his end of their bargain with little guilt or repercussion. Joey had embarked on this journey, knowing that there was a risk of betrayal. But to hear a stranger say it so plainly like it was the most obvious thing in the world...

"So, you weren't planning to ditch me to the wayside given your first chance?"

"That won't matter one way or another if we don't get out of here." Kaiba craned his head to meet Joey's gaze, never releasing his shoulder as they stared at each other.

Joey supposed he had a point. What was that saying? Better the demon you know than the one you don't?

Pegasus hummed. "You've chosen poorly then, Joey-boy."

At that moment, Mai whipped her bola at the sorcerer. The weighted rope whirled around Pegasus' middle, strapping his arms to his side. But with a wiggle of his fingers, the trap slackened and hit the ground in a pile of dust. 

"I suppose we'll do this the hard way then." Pegasus clapped his hands together and started chanting. Lines of light cut across the carpet under his feet, crisscrossing with each other to form a drawing of shapes and symbols. 

Mai screeched a warning. "Magic circle! Get back!"

Kaiba immediately shoved him aside. With the jar clutched tight to his chest, Joey stumbled to the edge of the room, barely avoiding the glowing lines and runes to reach the recessed doorway. Mai quickly bumped into his back, pushing him through the door. He glanced over his shoulder as he tumbled on to the landing of the stairs, barely keeping his grip on Kaiba's jar. Kaiba was still inside the room.

As Joey opened his mouth to scream for the other man to make his escape, Kaiba grasped one of the jars from the closet shelves and threw it at Pegasus' feet. Billows of blue smoke rose from the shattered remains to fill the room, obscuring both Kaiba and Pegasus from view. Mai never quit shepherding him along, and Joey kept moving forward to save himself from a painful fall down the long, winding stairs.

They were halfway down the stairs when Kaiba finally tore down behind them, huffing and puffing. But Joey's relief was short-lived when he spotted the mass of shadows brimming out the door to Pegasus' room. 

"What's that?" he asked, choking on a rising tide of panic.

"He summoned a demon. Eyes forward. Don't stop."

The demon was a bulbous mass of flesh that oozed down the stairs, gaining on them at an ever-increasing rate. Mai flew down the last stretch of the stairs to reach the door first and pushed it open with a bang. Joey and Kaiba fled the tower in her wake. But they weren't in the clear yet. As soon as Pegasus' summon left the confines of the tower, it coalesced into a frightening shape that was at least three times their size. It took to the skies with flapping appendages that it used as wings. They were made all the more wrong by the multitude of eyes spotted all over the flesh.

They trampled deep into the swamp and mud in hopes of losing it. Joey's lungs and legs burned, but no matter how hard he pushed himself, Pegasus' demon pursued them without flagging stamina. Mai led the group, gliding like an arrow through the air. She wasn't untouchable flying, though, and he worried about the demon focusing on her exclusively. At his side, Kaiba started to tire as each step with his long legs covered less and less distance.

"We can't outrun this thing!" shouted Joey.

"Joseph!" Kaiba barked. "Smash the jar!"

He clutched the stolen jar tighter to his chest and threw the brunet a disbelieving look. "What?"

"Trust me!" Kaiba said with a note of pleading.

He nodded and slowed to a walk. He raised the jar overhead and threw it on the ground with all his strength. It shattered to pieces with the sound of a deafening roar and a magical explosion that knocked him off his feet and threw him back almost a dozen feet. He coughed, spitting out the mouthful of mud he nearly swallowed when he hit the ground. 

"Joey!" Mai screeched. She landed at his side and propped him against her side. 

"I'm fine," he coughed and groaned. 

When the cloud dust cleared, Pegasus' demon loomed tall over Kaiba. Every one of its many, many eyes was trained hungrily on the man. Kaiba stood with his back turned to Joey, gazing up at the demon and not moving. The demon lunged forward, baring the razor-sharp teeth in its strange, round mouth.

"No!" Joey scrambled to his feet and raced forward. Kaiba was too far away, and neither he nor Mai would reach him in time.

Then the demon slammed into an invisible shield surrounding Kaiba. It fell back with a confused and injured sound. White-blue lightning crackled in the air around him. Even his current position, Joey's hair stood on their end from the static.

Kaiba spoke with a voice that boomed through the trees, "Pegasus, I know you're watching. I'll teach you to mess with your betters."

Under any other circumstance, Joey wasn't sure if he should cry or laugh at Kaiba's overwrought declaration. The pearly glow around Kaiba grew brighter and brighter until Joey was forced to look away. Mai raised one wing to shield both of their faces. When the light died, a massive white dragon stood in Kaiba's place. 

Joey's jaw dropped. "Holy shit."

The dragon, formerly known as Kaiba, took flight with a mighty beat of its wings. He snapped his ferocious jaw at Pegasus' demon and roared. The demon charged upwards, but Kaiba knocked it back with his tail. The demon's primary eye tracked the dragon's flight path before firing a golden beam. Kaiba dodged the attack with an elegant swoop. 

"Stay back," Kaiba's disembodied voice echoed through his head. 

Judging by the wrinkle in Mai's nose, she heard the voice too. 

Kaiba reared his head back; white lightning gathered in his mouth. With a snap of his neck, he hurled a stream of energy at the demon. The resulting shockwave shook the ground and uprooted trees. Joey threw himself over Mai to shield her from the flying debris. 

When the world finally calmed, nothing remained of the demon except for a smoking crater. Kaiba gave one final triumphant roar, flapped his wings, and launched himself toward the clouds. 

A gray storm cloud broke and unleashed a torrent of rain on top of them. Light streaked across the darkened sky, followed by booming thunder.

Kaiba didn't come back. 

Joey and Mai trekked back to the inn on foot. He spent most of the trip muttering unflattering things about Kaiba. Mai occasionally bobbed her head in agreement. He wanted to be angry at Kaiba. At himself for trusting the bastard in the first place. But he was just tired, slathered in mud, drained of hope, and full of fear for Serenity's safety. 

"We'll come up with a backup plan," Mai tried to reassure him at some point. 

He wished he could have found her support more reassuring. Joey would keep going, though, for Serenity’s sake. 

The last thing they expected was to find Kaiba standing primly in the chair by the window of their shared room. 

"You're a dragon," Joey blurted as he closed the door behind Mai. He remained by the door, dripping water on the floor and fighting a cold shiver. 

Kaiba shot him an unimpressed look. 

Then Mai added with a note of malice, "You came back."

An uncomfortable expression flitted across Kaiba's face. "I did." His tone suggested he wasn't sure why. 

Mai crossed the room in a bustle of feathers, taloned feet clacking across the floorboards. She swung a wing, and her claws connected soundly with the side of Kaiba's face. 

"That's for tricking us," she hissed. 

Joey yelped at the three deep cuts that she left behind. "Mai, what are you doing?" 

She folded her wings and stared imperiously at Kaiba, never breaking eye contact. When Kaiba's wounds began to knit close before their eyes, she snorted. "I figured. Dragons are pretty handy with magic. I always thought human transfiguration was a myth. But if you've mastered that, you must be very good."

Kaiba smirked. "The best."

"What all happened back there?" Joey asked. "If you're so good at magic, why'd you need our help?"

Kaiba considered both him and Mai for several beats before answering, "That jar is known as a Dragon Capture Jar. Pegasus intended to seal me with it and bind me to his service. He had succeeded partially, sealing away a vast majority of my magic and trapping me in human form."

"So, that's why you wouldn't touch it?"

"If I had done so, I would have likely been completely bound."

"Wait, does that mean we should leave right now? What if Pegasus comes after us?" Joey was moving toward their packs as he spoke.

"He won't likely try anything now that I've returned to full power. But it would be wise not to linger."

"Then we shouldn't linger," interrupted Mai. "We should hit the road soon. And you will keep your promise to Joey, won't you?" Her pupils sharpened as she flexed her talons. 

Kaiba and Joey's gazes met over her shoulder. After what felt like an eternity, he nodded. Joey's heart unclenched with a sigh of relief. 

-x-x-x-

The Scar was breathtaking. There were no other words to describe it. Given how it stretched for leagues up and down the continent, it was also aptly named. Through the mist, Joey could barely make out the distant cliff-face opposite him. If the dragons' kingdom laid on the other side, it was no wonder no one could reach them as long as they remained isolated in their territory.

He wrung his hands. "So how deep's the plunge?"

Kaiba, who had spent the entirety of their three-week journey to reach the kingdom's western border in his human form, stepped beside him. "About two leagues or so."

Joey shuddered. The fog cover prevented him from seeing the bottom of the canyon, but even without it, a league was probably far enough that he'd see nothing but darkness beneath him. "Guess that makes any fall a one-way trip. Is Mai gonna be okay?"

"As long as she turns back in time."

Joey glared at the man/dragon. As he opened his mouth to scold him for his callous attitude, a spot of color pierced through the fog, hurtling toward them like a catapult. 

Mai hit the ground at a sliding skid that tossed up dirt and pebbles in the wake of her landing. She collapsed to her knees, chest heaving and shoulders shaking from exhaustion. She folded her wings tight around her shoulder and glared at Kaiba, "You didn't say the mist was magic."

"It emanates from the Mistborne Mountains. What did you expect?" Kaiba arched a sardonic eyebrow. "At least you made it back in one piece."

Mai glared at him in return as she climbed to her feet. She flapped her wings and shook them out before turning to address Joey. "I guess this is where we part ways."

"Wait, you're leaving us?" Joey exclaimed.

"Aw, don't be like that, hon. I only came with you this far to make sure he"—She glowered at Kaiba again, and he turned his nose up at her—"Didn't swindle you, hon. Now that I know he's keeping his end of the bargain, it's time for me to hit the road again. A girl's gotta catch bounties if she wants to eat. Or shop."

Joey let his shoulders slump. He shouldn't be surprised. Unlike Kaiba or him, she wasn't invested in reaching the dragon's kingdom other than maybe to satisfy her curiosity.

A slow smirk spread across Kaiba's lips. "In that case, there's nothing to stop me from tossing him off mid-flight."

"Hey, you wouldn't!" Joey protested, before adding, "Right?"

But Kaiba wasn't looking at him. He was studying Mai, who watched him in return. Joey couldn't tell what was going through either of their minds. For a moment, he thought they might end in some kind of stalemate.

"I still don't trust you as far as I can throw you," commented Mai.

"You'd be foolish not to," shot back Kaiba.

She rolled her eyes and then broke into a wide smile. "You know what? You're right. Why would I pass up the chance to see the dragon's glorious kingdom? Who knows what kind of treasures might be lying around."

"Wait, so you're coming with?" Joey asked excitedly.

"Sure thing, hon. You both owe me thirty gold crowns for letting a bounty like Bakura get away."

Kaiba rolled his eyes and started to back away, while Joey and Mai remained in their current places. Once again, there was a flash of bright light, and when it died away, a giant white dragon remained in Kaiba's place. His dragon form was even more intimidating up-close. He was easily twice the size of Joey's hut back in his home village. The color of his eyes was the one feature his two forms shared in common, a deep and piercing blue. Hand in hand, he and Mai approached Kaiba, who watched them with a cautious gleam in his eyes.

Mai reached out and touched Kaiba first, a graze of her talons across one of his front legs. Kaiba bared his maw and flashed rows of razor-sharp teeth at them. Without missing a beat, she elbowed Joey with a smirk, "What did I tell you? Overgrown lizards."

Kaiba huffed and blew a breath that tousled Mai's hair. His disembodied voice rang in both their ears. "It'll be dark soon if we don't leave now."

"So what? We climb on your back, and you'll fly us across?" Joey asked. 

"Unfortunately, yes."

Joey critically eyed Kaiba's shining scales, which were more like plates, down the dragon's back. He should be able to grip onto the ridge of where one plate overlapped with its neighbor. He placed a hesitant hand to the dragon's flank and startled at the warmth he felt. Kaiba held still, his head and eyes fixed on the other unseen side of the Scar. Joey grabbed the smooth ridge and pulled himself onto the dragon's back. Once he was settled, he reached over the side to offer Mai a helping hand.

"How chivalrous," she laughed but took the offered hand and allowed him to pull her into place.

Kaiba flapped his wings, kicking up a strong wind and great clouds of dust. The dragon slowly started to levitate in the air, gaining altitude in a way that no bird did. 

"If you fall off, it's your own fault," was Kaiba's only warning before they shot forward into the air. 

He grabbed the plate for dear life. His heart scaled his ribs and rode in his throat as they rocketed into the mist, which parted before them like an intangible path. His stomach did a flop before settling, and his initial nervousness was quickly replaced by excitement.

He was flying! Not just flying, but riding on the back of a dragon like the main hero character of an adventure story!

"This is amazing! Is it always like this?" he shouted, unsure if he was addressing his question to either Mai or Kaiba or maybe both at the same time.

"Not quite," said Mai. "But this has its charm, I suppose."

"Best hold on then," boomed Kaiba's voice in both their heads. 

Joey legitimately screamed when the dragon shot up in the air and did a looping circle that had him floating in the air like gravity itself had taken leave for a moment. 

Mai released her hold and glided for several moments until Kaiba righted himself. "Show off," she said snidely when she landed at Joey's side again.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Joey shouted.

Kaiba's only response was a resonant chuckle that remained in his head long after the sound faded. 

Eventually, the opposite cliff started to come into view. Joey didn't know how long they'd been flying. It could have been minutes or hours. The fog was magical and messed with both his sense of time and direction. He expected to see some buildings or maybe guard towers rising above the cliffs on the other side. Instead, all he saw was more rocky desert like the one they'd just left behind.

Had they gotten turned around and ended back where they started?

His stomach swooped as Kaiba dove into the depths of the Scar. As they approached the cliff-face, Joey saw that it was littered with holes, which he soon realized were actually cave openings dotting the rocks at regular intervals like a honeycomb. A handful of dark shapes—other dragons—flew in and out of those openings. 

He flattened himself across Kaiba's broad back as another dragon banked around them. Mai did the same. They shared a look, both apprehensive about how their presence might be received.

The dragons had lived in virtual isolation from the rest of the world for the last 300 years. Now, it wasn't hard to see how they managed that.

Kaiba threaded confidently into one of the many identical openings and landed with a thump. He folded his wings close and crouched to the ground before saying, "We're here."

Joey slid off the dragon's back. This time, Mai dismissed his offer to help and landed on the ground next to him after a brief hop and glide. 

Before them stood a massive stone door that appeared impenetrable.

Without reverting into his human form, Kaiba hissed something at the stone door, causing the carved symbols to glow before it slid open with a rumble. He shuffled inside, leaving Joey and Mai to scramble behind him as the door began to close again.

It was not dark inside as Joey first expected. Instead, the interior was lit by a soft, diffused glow emanating from the walls themselves. 

The ceiling above them was so tall that Joey quickly developed a crick in his neck looking up. Without the added height from the vantage point on top of Kaiba, Joey finally understood the sheer magnitude of each opening they'd seen on the cliff. Unnaturally smooth and polished walls on either sides curved up to meet the ceiling, making the passageway more like a paved tunnel than any natural cave formation. The roof was twice as tall as Kaiba, and the tunnel's width was wide enough that he could fit comfortably even at his full wingspan. Depending on the dragon, this might be considered cramp. But for creatures the size of him and Mai, it was mind-boggling humongous.

"Where are we?" Joey asked hesitantly. 

"Home," replied Kaiba as he moved further inside. 

Before Joey could ask what he meant, a high-pitched trilling filled the air, followed by another projected voice that excitedly screamed, "Seto! You're home!" 

Another door further down the hallway flung open, and something shot toward them. Mai pulled Joey into one of the recessed alcoves in the walls, but Kaiba stopped the white blur by laying his head and neck low to meet it. It turned out to be another dragon with the same ethereal white plates and scales as Kaiba. The only difference between Kaiba and this new dragon was their sizes. The smaller one was maybe twice the size of a horse, which made Joey wonder if it was still a juvenile. 

The two dragons tapped muzzles affectionately before the smaller one clambered onto Kaiba's back. 

"I missed you! Why were you gone for so long?" the younger dragon asked. 

"I'm sorry I was away for longer than promised, Mokuba. I... I ran into some complications out there," said Kaiba. 

So Kaiba hadn't lied about having a little brother. Joey shifted to get a better look, but his movement appeared to catch the smaller dragon's attention. Mokuba immediately swiveled his neck and head in his and Mai's direction. His predator's eyes honed in on their hiding place before flashing rows of razor-sharp teeth. 

"Humans!" Mokuba exclaimed, dropping off Kaiba's back and barreled toward them. 

They were trapped in the alcove when Mokuba's hulking form cut off their escape. Mai planted one talon to his chest and pressed him back into the wall as Mokuba wedged his head into the opening to what? Sniff them? 

"Hey, who are you calling a human?" Mai complained. 

Mokuba bared his shining teeth again. "Okay, and a bird." 

Mai's feathers ruffled. 

"Mokuba, stop messing with them. They're," Kaiba sighed heavily before continuing. "My guests. They helped me out there." 

The smaller dragon backed away and slinked under one of his brother's wings, sulking like a disgruntled cat. "But Seto, they’re so small! What could they have done?" 

Kaiba drew back his wing, glowing before he reappeared in his human form. Without a second thought, he rested one hand on his brother's muzzle then started stroking. "I was trapped in this form. There are still Dragon Capture Jars out in the world." 

Mokuba curled his tail around his now-human brother and nuzzled Kaiba so hard that he almost knocked him off his feet. "I'm glad you came back in one piece, big brother. If these little creatures helped you do that, then thanks to you too." 

Joey and Mai emerged from the alcove to approach the duo. Joey would admit that the familiar sight of Kaiba's human form, the one they have traveled with for the majority of their journey, helped to calm his nerves in this new and possibly dangerous place. 

"Can your brother change too?" Joey asked. 

Kaiba shook his eyes. "Human transformation is very high-level magic. Not every dragon masters the technique. Mokuba most likely can in the future, but for now, he is far too young." 

Mokuba laid flat on the stone ground, settling his head to watch the three of them. "I'm a hundred years old already, Seto!" he whined. 

"Like I said, still a kit." 

Mokuba huffed in annoyance. 

Joey turned his wide-eyed stare on Kaiba. "Wait, how old are you then?" 

Kaiba seemed to consider the question for a long moment. "About five hundred, give or take several decades." 

Mai patted him on the shoulder. "Dragons are long-lived," she said as if that explained everything. 

Joey shook his head in disbelief. Never in his life would he have thought he'd be consorting with centuries-old dragons or bounty-hunting harpies if you asked him two months ago. He had so many questions, and part of him was eager to explore Kaiba's strange and gigantic home. But there was one matter he needed to settle first. 

"So, what now? How do we find the dragon that took my sister?" he asked. 

Kaiba furrowed his brow in deep thought as he began to pace. It was one of the more human qualities he'd picked up in their travels. "I'll need to report to the King first. My mission was to survey and evaluate the current state of the neighboring nations. I'm several months past due to report in. Perhaps once I have done so, I can see if any royal resources might help your search."

Mokuba had perked up over the course of the conversation, lifting his head to follow Kaiba's pacing. "Sister? Is she human?" 

"Yeah, that's generally how that works." Joey rolled his eyes. 

Mokuba snapped his jaws playfully at Joey. Or he hoped it was playful. "Hey, she might not be your blood kin." 

"Her name's Serenity and she sixtee—" Joey cut himself off once he realized that Mokuba might not have a useful reference for human age. Instead, he held his hand up to the middle of his chest and said, "She's about this tall." 

"Oh! And she has long, reddish-brown hair, and her eyes are hazel and look almost green sometimes, right?" Mokuba chirped excitedly. 

Joey froze. That was a spot-on description of his little sister. He raced directly up to Mokuba's face and gaped at the dragon. "Wait! You've seen Serenity?" 

"Yep! Everyone has! And you can too, if you go with Seto to meet the King." 

"Wait. What?" Joey's head spun from the news. He hadn't expected to find his sister so quickly, not that he was complaining. 

"Because she's his Majesty's special guest, duh!" 

-x-x-x-

As eager as Joey had been to storm the dragon king's castle, Kaiba and Mai talked him down from it. Because they were right, the dragons had the advantage of size, number, and magic over Joey. Nor were they going to do Joey the polite courtesy of taking their human forms—if they were even capable of that—so that Joey could more conveniently beat them up.

Worse, it turned out there was bureaucracy to consider. Kaiba couldn't just march two non-dragons into the throne room with him. He had to alert the royal court to his intentions and get permission. Because otherwise, Joey might get fried to a crisp before he ever saw his sister again.

Serenity would be safe, Kaiba reasoned. If she were the King's guest, she would be treated with respect. Perhaps he had even rescued her from her kidnapper but had no way of returning her home safely.

So Joey begrudgingly waited, spending the four days it took to get approval confined to the Kaiba brother's home. Mokuba had taken great interest in both him and Mai, following them everywhere and asking question after question about the outside world. It turned out he had never left his home kingdom, and as he was only a hundred years, he had hatched into isolation. Kaiba was noticeably absent over those four days. During the rare glimpses they would catch of him around dinnertime, Kaiba mentioned being buried under the work that had accumulated in his absence. Because while he wasn't a part of the royal court, he did work in close concert with it.

But even with Mokuba often at their side, it wasn't the same. Even Mai seemed to miss Kaiba's company, despite her protests to the contrary.

When it was finally time to see the King, Joey was on the verge of cabin fever. And as he stared at the enormous double doors and the draconic guards flanking each side, he felt a tremor of fear rock through him. What if Serenity was a prisoner? What if he wasn't allowed to see her? What if? What if? What—

He felt Mai's talon graze his shoulder blade. Light flashed in the corner of his eyes before the human Kaiba stepped into his field of vision. Joey squared his shoulders, taking comfort from their unspoken show of solidarity, and marched inside.

The royal "palace" of the dragon king was much like other dragons' homes: a series of interconnected passages and caverns carved deep into the rocks. The passageways and the rooms were even bigger, better decorated, and more richly furnished. Not that there was much of a trend in dragon furniture other than tables that stood twice as tall as Joey. Even their beds were little more than elevated stone platforms. He and Mai would have had a hell of a time sleeping if they hadn't brought their travel packs along.

While dragons didn't believe in carpeting—it would just get caught in their claws and horns as Kaiba pointed out—they were fond of tapestries, both their display and their making. Magic allowed the dragons to accomplish many things that their physique would not easily allow for. Take writing as an example. Joey had watched one evening as Kaiba composed documents for court review through the use of dictation magic.

The palace was filled with tapestries. Most depicted dragons in flight or waging war, but they also showed them existing alongside other creatures, including harpies and humans.

Their escorts watched them like hawks from the moment they entered the palace, down every hallway they traveled, in every waiting room they were shuffled through until at long last, they reached the throne room.

Here, the polished walls seemed to glow and glimmer like gemstones. At the far end of the austere hall sat a gleaming throne of black stone. Joey half-expected it to be surrounded by a pile of treasures: gold coins, gems, and golden bejeweled chalices of all things. But he had since learned that dragons didn't keep hoards in the traditional sense. They were more like neatly organized storage rooms where everything was sorted into drawers and beehive shelves by value. 

Jounouchi froze halfway down the length of the room. The King that sat atop the throne wore no crown or cape or jewelry because what need did a dragon have for any accessory? Because he recognized the dragon king. Had spent days chasing after the black-scaled creature in both his dreams and nightmares. Had seen those same emerald eyes haunting him in during his slumbering hours.

This King had certainly not saved his sister.

"YOU!" boomed Joey, jabbing an accusing finger at the creature on the dais. "YOU KIDNAPPED MY SISTER!"

Several feet ahead, where Kaiba was about to drop into a kneel, the brown-haired man whipped around to gape at Joey. Mai appeared slightly surprised. Instead, she darted her eagle eyes all across the throne room like she was calculating an escape route.

Kaiba hastily faced forward to address the King, "Forgive him, your majesty, he's distraught over the disappearance of his sister. He means no offense."

Joey rushed forward, only to be stopped when Kaiba grabbed him by the arm. "LIKE HELL, I DON'T!" he roared. "That's the scoundrel that took Serenity! I know it is!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Joseph. For what reason or opportunity would the King—"

"It's fine, Seto," interrupted the King, who sounded somewhat familiar to Joey. "He's not wrong, per se. I did indeed take Serenity away from her village."

Kaiba's grip slacked in his shock. "I don't understand, your majesty."

The dragon stepped down from the throne and crossed the room to meet them in less than four steps. Mai tensed at Joey's side, reaching defensively for her shortsword. But Kaiba shook his head at her, silently telling her it would be of no use. Joey only had eyes for the black dragon now standing before him, confused but mostly furious at this so-called King.

"Perhaps you would remember me in this form," said the King before a magical light engulfed him. When the glow subsided, a familiar figure with silky black hair and brilliant green eyes indeed stood in the King's place.

Joey's jaw dropped. "Otogi?"

Otogi chuckled. "Hello again, Joey."

He reacted without thinking. He always hated the smug look on Otogi's face and that flirtatious grin. Not to mention, Kaiba had been wrong. This dragon had done him the courtesy of taking human form so Joey could beat the living daylight out of him. Otogi still managed to dodge his punch, and the blow merely grazed his shoulder instead of giving him a swollen eye. Both Kaiba and Mai caught him before he could throw another punch.

"Lemme go!" shouted Joey. "Where's my sister?"

Kaiba held tight. He flashed a pained expression at the now human king. "Please explain, your majesty."

Otogi hummed and took several steps back out of Joey's attack range. "Seto, when you were three moons past due to report in, I decided to investigate myself. If we're truly consider reopening diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, I should see for myself what the state of the world is. So I went out in disguise much as you did, traveling the kingdom in search of news of you. I passed through Joey's home village here at some point and met his lovely sister. Serenity has both an adventurous and generous spirit. For that, she won my deep admiration. I even told her of who I was and why I was traveling. She offered to help me understand the world outside these borders better."

"You liar! You tricked her!" snarled Joey. "Give her back now!"

"No, Joey! Ryuuji never lied to me!"

Joey went slack and slowly turned his head in the direction of the newest arrival. "Serenity?"

His sister, dressed in a dress made of fine green silk, stomped toward him. She was whole and the very picture of glowing health. "Ryuugi's not lying. I am here as a friend and as a guest."

Otogi swept forward, took one of Serenity's hands, and lifted it to plant a gentleman's kiss to the back of it. "My most honored guest," he corrected.

Serenity blushed at the attention. Mai made a faint noise of amusement and realization. Meanwhile, Kaiba watched the proceedings with narrowed and suspicious eyes.

"He's using you!" argued Joey. 

She arched a questioning eyebrow at him. "For what?"

Joey stammered, grasping for an answer but finding none. He tried another tactic instead. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Would you have let me go if I told you first?" asked Serenity.

Joey clenched his jaw and hands. He took his sister's hand and pulled her away from Otogi. "Well, thanks for the hospitality, but we're leaving now."

Otogi smirked at him, and Joey wanted to take another punch at the ass. "How do you intend to leave without the aid of another dragon?"

"Kaiba!" 

Joey looked sharply to his once-travel-companion, but Kaiba did not immediately step forward to offer aid. Instead, Kaiba kept alternating his scowling between his King and Joey. Joey's spirit plummeted even further when Serenity tore out of his grip and ran back to Otogi's side.

She glared at him like he was the one that lost his goddamn mind. "You're always too overprotective, big brother. I was perfectly safe. You coming all this way proves I was right."

Joey exploded. "I was worried sick! I saw you getting carried off by a freaking dragon! What was I supposed to think? Of course, I was going to do everything in my power to find and save you! I wasn't just going to leave you in some monster's evil clutch."

Both Otogi and Kaiba pointedly cleared their throats. Joey ignored them.

Her eyes widened. "Wait, what are you talking about? Didn't you read the letter I left behind?"

"What letter?"

"Back home. I left it for you on your pillow, so you would see it before you slept."

Joey shook his head. "After I saw you get carried off by a dragon, I went for help. When no one believed me, I thought 'screw it' and set out to find you on my own! I barely had time to go home and pack the essentials, much less take a nap!"

A groan filled the room. Surprisingly, it came from Kaiba. "Are you telling me that this whole affair could have been resolved if you two talked to each other for two minutes?" he snapped.

The pink in Serenity's cheeks deepened to a crimson red. She stamped her feet. "I can't help that Joey's stubborn and bullheaded."

"Hey!"

Mai laughed. "So, it's all a misunderstanding."

Joey glared harder. He didn't see how any of this was funny.

"C'mon, hon, don't be like that. Don't look a gift happy ending in the mouth."

Otogi butted in. "Perhaps it all worked out for the best, though. I read your report, Seto. You might not have been able to return to us so soon, if not for their help. It was good fortune that Joey set out when he did so that your paths could cross."

Joey deflated a little. Otogi wasn't necessarily wrong about that. While he would have loved not to go crazy with worry for his sister, being able to help Kaiba out wasn't a bad thing. Kaiba wasn't as terrible as he could be and definitely didn't deserve to be stuck as some crazed sorcerer's magical slave. Joey was also glad to have met Mai.

Otogi beamed at everyone present, proud to have made his case and helped them see the light of his wisdom. "Now that's cleared up, why don't we all sit down for a meal and get to know each other better?"

-x-x-x-

King of the dragons or not, Otogi remained an annoying flirt taking all too much of an interest in Joey's sister. So when Otogi invited both Joey and Mai to take up guest residence in the palace quarters along with Serenity, Joey jumped on the chance. No way was he letting his sister out of his sight again. 

Mai came with him, clearly enticed by the royal palace's riches and splendor. He hoped she wasn't going to try and lift anything while they were here because Joey did not want to find out what happened if they were caught stealing from dragons. 

Surprisingly, Kaiba seemed surly about the arrangement. Oh, he never said anything outright. Whether human or dragon form, he was extra grumpy every time he visited between completing his work responsibilities, bemoaning how Mokuba claimed to miss them terribly and constantly asked when they would visit. The ironic thing was that the three of them actually saw each other more often while Joey stayed at the palace than when they were hiding in Kaiba's home. 

After another week of observation, Joey was forced to conclude that Otogi probably didn't have bad intentions toward Serenity or humanity. The King was nothing but forthright about his plans for opening relations between his kingdom and others. Neither was Serenity a prisoner, as she regularly was escorted outside for day trips to find information and gauge the world on Otogi's behalf. Joey was able to accompany her on one such trip. He had a feeling that when Otogi finally made official overtures at diplomatic relations, Serenity would be right beside him as a kind of ambassador. 

"I think your sister's positively thriving," said Mai, never tearing her eyes from some scroll she had borrowed from the royal archives. 

Joey sulked. Mai wasn't wrong. Serenity had integrated herself into the royal court. Almost everyone from the King to the guards adored her. He even understood why she didn't want to go home. Working with the dragons was more exciting than anything their small village could offer in their lifetime. 

Parchment crinkled behind him as Mai put away her reading and approached him. "Say, Hon, I think it's time for me to move on." 

He spun to face her. "What?" 

She shrugged. "Don't get me wrong. It's been fun. Not to mention, I haven't stayed in the lap of luxury like this before. While a girl could get used to this, I want it to be on my terms and not at the mercy of someone else's hospitality." 

That made sense. Mai always seemed like a free spirit. Still, it saddened Joey to think of losing her as a companion. 

She cocked her head and studied his face carefully. After a long moment of silence, she said," You could come with me."

"But what about Serenity? I can't just leave her," he argued. 

"She's in very safe hands as far as I can tell. King Otogi will never let anything happen to her if he can. He's in lo--" 

He cut her off. "I get it! I get it! You don't have to say it out loud!" 

She chuckled softly and slung a wing across his shoulders, draping them in a cape of her rainbow feathers. "You're going stir-crazy too. I can tell. Think of all the adventures and the bounties out there. And it's not like you'd be leaving her forever. After the dragons reach out to the rest of the world, you'll see her again out there or be able to come back to visit."

Now that he was rested and assured of his sister's relative safety, he had begun to grow restless. He even missed the open road and its dangers, but his travels had also been full of pleasant surprises, mainly because of his travel companions. 

"You're right. It's time to leave before Otogi kicks us out for mooching," he laughed. 

She embraced him with joy, and they spun in dizzying circles to celebrate the idea of their impending freedom.

"Eager to leave so soon?" asked a third voice upon entering the room. It was Kaiba in human form, his preferred appearance when visiting alone with him and Mai. 

He released Mai and smiled softly at Kaiba. He really had grown fond of him over the weeks, grouchy and smug and temperamental as he was. "It's not like Mai and I can stay forever. 'Sides, I miss the sun." 

"The solariums are a poor imitation of the real thing," Kaiba conceded with a grumble. 

The dragons had solariums with large, bright lights that simulated sunlight and even an indoor garden within the palace. But it wasn't the same as the real thing. Magic couldn't substitute for the life-giving rays of the actual sun. 

Joey crossed the room to clasp a hand to Kaiba's shoulders. "Don't look so glum. Like Mai says, we can always come to visit you guys. This isn't goodbye for good." 

Kaiba's piercing blue gaze darted between him and Mai. "You've both made up your minds then?" 

Joey looked to Mai for a second, and then they nodded in unison. 

"Then I'll come with you," declared Kaiba. 

"Wait? What?" 

"As usual, you haven't thought things through. How do you intend to leave or even return to visit without a dragon by your side?" 

"But what about Mokuba?" 

"I'm of more use out there than I am in here. What I learn out there will be of more use to my people once we rejoin the rest of the world. That includes Mokuba. One day soon, Mokuba will also know the world beyond these caverns." 

Mai sidled up to Kaiba's other side, threading one wing through his elbow. "Admit it, you'd miss us." 

Kaiba glared at her, but the faint pink in his cheeks belied his protest. She laughed and patted one of those blushing cheeks. 

Giddiness buzzed through Joey. He gripped Kaiba's bony shoulder tighter, smiling like a loon. "We're really doing this?" 

Kaiba sighed and nodded solemnly. Mai simply pulled them both into a group hug. 

-x-x-x-

Fear coursed through Serenity's body. Joey was nowhere to be found. He never showed for dinner. He wasn't in his quarters or the garden or the archives. Even Miss Mai was missing. 

"I'll send a messenger to Seto's abode. Perhaps your brother and his friend are there?" Ryuuji tried to calm her as she paced his study. 

"Then why are their chambers empty? Where are their things? It's not like they can just leave without an escort across the Scar!" She wrung her hands. 

What if something happened? Not everyone on Ryuuji's royal council was on board with the King's proposal to restart diplomatic relations with the human world. There was a deep history of war and strife between their two people. While humans may have forgotten, the dragons had not. They lived too long to forget easily.

Being the King's favorite afforded her both privileges and protection. Ryuuji's enemies wouldn't dare move against her so readily. But Joey? And Mai? They might not be so lucky.

Ryuuji held her gently, rubbing a hand up and down her arm in an attempt to soothe her. "We'll find them. I promise. You should retire for the night. You humans need so much sleep. Staying up and worrying won't find them any sooner." 

For a moment, she considered arguing with him. But he was right. What resources could she scramble together that he, as King, wasn't able to?

"You'll let me know as soon as you find out anything, right?" she demanded.

"Of course, dear heart." 

She planted a kiss on his cheek, fighting back a giggle when he flushed red. Dragons were so easily embarrassed when in their human forms. He saw her to the door and watched her walk in the direction of his room before heading in the opposite direction. 

Serenity was almost dead on her feet by the time she arrived at her room. The palace scale was not meant to accommodate creatures of her size. She swore she never walked so much every day before staying in the dragon's kingdom. 

Her chamber was as large as any other room but filled with more human-sized furniture. Some of which had been acquired during her trips back into the human world. Not all of which was solely for her sake, but also because Ryuuji took to inhabiting his human form in private around her.

Ryuuji wanted to spoil her, but she refused. Her bed, stuffed with the softest down, was the one thing she relented on. But before she could fall into bed and no doubt dream fitfully about her missing brother, she noticed an envelope on top of her pillow. 

"To Serenity," the front read in the neat print produced by the standard dictation spell. 

She ripped it open and unfolded the parchment inside—more dictation spell-produced writing within. 

> _Dear Serenity,_
> 
> _If you're reading this, then I'm already gone. Haha, not like that. Kaiba, Mai, and me decided it was finally time to hit the road again. I can now see that you're in good hands. But most importantly, I can see you're happy._
> 
> _I'm proud of you, sis. You were always dreaming of bigger things, and you've found it. I guess you can say that I'm looking for that too, except out there. We're gonna travel where we can, and see all the strange, exciting things that the world has to offer. Kaiba's pretty convinced that'd be more useful to the royal court than pushing papers._
> 
> _I know so._
> 
> _Shuddup, I'm talking here, dragon boy._
> 
> _Tch._
> 
> _Anyway, take care of yourself, Serenity! We'll be back to visit soon. Now that Kaiba's back at full power, he says we'll also be able to keep in touch with magic._
> 
> _Love, your big brother, Joey_
> 
> _P. S. Good job landing a king, little Wheeler. Dammit, Mai. That's it, both of you, get out of here. You can't. I have to be here to cast the dictation spell. Ugh, fine, whatever. I'm done. Now end_

Smiling, she folded the letter and tucked it into her waistband. She left the room with a twirl of her skirt, gliding through the cavernous corridors in search of Ryuuji. She would tell him to call off the search for Joey. Her brother was far from missing or lost.


End file.
